Can an attorney bill my parents for hours spent not with them, but with their POA?

Yes, if the POA is activated, they can seek professional guidance and pay the bill. And since you are not the POA , the attorneys are restrained from talking to you under confidentiality rules. If you think this was unnecessary, you can petition the court to remove the POA.

I have POA for my Mom's estate & I paid for attorney fees with the Trust Account money. If they are competent and not happy about this, they should change their will/Trust ASAP. If you petition the Court , it will cost about $40K and they may take Conservatorship, which means bye-bye to all their money. I'm not trying to scare you, but my brother is constantly making trouble & calling Adult Protective Services. I was told to tread lightly or this could happen to my Mom (who has Alzheimer's).

We all said "Yes. This expenditure is normal." Your parents might or might not have known. That is why they gave their son or daughter power of attorney (to attend to legal matters.) The POA will then be paying that bill out of the account that he or she is authorized to pay out of, along with your parents other bills.

A good POA, however, would tell their parents everything that happened with the attorney and not keep it to himself/herself. That shows good faith. I discussed everything with my mom as her acting POA so she would understand (to the best of her ability at that time) that I had only her best interests at heart.

Your parents will have to pay the attorney.

Your parents - assuming they are competent & cognitive - chose and signed off on whomever they selected as their DPOA. This is a legally binding document on their part. If the POA has been their POA for a period of time, it has established the intent of your parents. The POA met with their attorney regarding them and the bill was $ 2,200.00 which has to be paid from your parents assets.

$ 2,200.00 - although it seems high may not be IF there were a lot of documents done; or research needed on property ownership; or if mom or dad was married previously and has kids or property from marriage # 1; or either of them in the past inherited any real property that didn't go through probate….all this sort of issues really run up the meter on para-legal costs. If they have any assets in other county or another state, this can really run up costs.

Now after all this is done and paid for, your parents can choose to select a new DPOA. But if in any way they seem incompetent or doing this under duress by you, the POA can file for full guardianship. As LEP627 said, it will be very expensive and probably go to the current DPOA's favor.

Being POA is much more involved and time consuming than anyone can ever imagine. If an attorney was contacted, he/she has to be paid. We had to contact an attorney on behalf of my MIL. An insurance company was refusing to pay out a dividend.

My husband is his mother's POA for finances and health care decisions. As such, he is on her checking account and pays for anything to do with Mom, out of her account. This has included any legal fees for services required on her behalf. He keeps accurate records in case there are any family disputes....

I was asked to take the position of DPOA for my mother, on Finances and Health Care. I never held this position for anyone prior to this although I had taken care of their finances for many years.

Because I want to represent my mother the best I could, I needed answers to many questions. I also needed to know what my position consisted of and what I should or should not do and how best to handle the position.

I quickly found out that this position is no laughing matter and requires an enormous amount of work. I must handle her Finances, Medical, House and Property. That may seem simple but it is not as each area is broken down into many different aspects. Finances include, paying bills, banking, caring for investments and making decisions to change them or leave them alone, balancing check books. etc. I have almost lost my mind with contractors, making repairs to her home, gathering bids, suing them for sub standard work, etc.

I do all of this and I was thrown into being her 24/7 caregiver as well with zero compensation.

So YES, your parents are expected to pay the attorney for their time and work to make sure that everything their POA is doing is on the up and up and legal. The POA is doing this FOR THE BENEFIT OF YOUR PARENTS!

Count your blessing that it is not you in this position...It is much more difficult than you could ever imagine!

Also, the POA is acting as an Agent for your parents, neither they or the attorney have to tell you anything about what they are doing. I was told that my mothers Trust was Private, just as a will would be and not to be discussed prior to their death.

A good POA would indeed discuss activities with the parent. But if the parent has some memory loss or other cognitive problems they may not always remember that by the time the bill comes. Sigh. Being a good POA is not always as straight-forward as it sounds like it should be.

I was so pissed when my crazy mother appointed my brother poa medical and financial, put him on her banking accounts, made him executor of her will and who knows what else. I was so hurt that they excluded me. Just like when I was a child. He was the golden boy, could do no wrong. Now, I am so happy, especially when I read all of this.

She did me a d*** favor.